Unit Supervisor - Herpetofauna.

Michael began working at Taronga Zoo in January 2003, soon after completing his honours degree on endogenous seasonal cycles in the endangered Regent Honeyeater. He is currently the Unit Supervisor of the Herpetofauna division where he oversees the maintenance and husbandry of the Zoo's collection of reptiles and amphibians.

Michael currently works mostly closely with the Zoo's amphibian conservation projects in collaboration with Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water. These include captive breeding and release programs for the highly endangered Southern and Northern Corroboree Frogs and Booroolong Frogs. These species have declined to the brink of extinction due primarily to chytrid fungus. More recently, he has been working closely with an insurance population of Yellow-spotted Bell Frogs, a species that was thought to have been extinct for over 30 years until their rediscovery in late 2009.

In recent years, Michael has also been sharing his knowledge of amphibian husbandry by assisting Amphibian Ark in instructing conservation and husbandry workshops in south-east Asia to build capacity for amphibian conservation programs in the region. These have included workshops in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, as well as an Australian workshop held at Taronga Zoo. The current focus of Michael's work is developing techniques to improve captive breeding and rearing success in threatened Australian frogs and reintroduction biology.